Tag Archives: British butterflies

Late Lepidoptera in East Sussex

28 Wednesday Oct 2026

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Though I thought I would probably see a few Clouded yellows and perhaps a late-migrating Red admiral, I didn’t really expect to see many butterflies during my week in East Sussex, and most of the time the weather was too wild and windy for small invertebrates to be on the wing.

Above, one of several Clouded yellows, and, below, a slightly tatty Red admiral – will it attempt the migration flight or simply fade away in southern Britain?

However, as is often the case, when the sun is shining even the smallest sheltered spot can hold some super surprises. This was one of three Common blues I saw flitting about amongst the low-growing wildflowers between areas of scrub on Beachy Head, most unexpected in such an exposed location.

As well as a few Painted ladies, Speckled woods, and Small whites, I was also delighted to spot a couple of Small copper butterflies, a species I certainly didn’t expect to see again this year.

Probably the biggest surprise, though, was this stunning Humming-bird hawk-moth, flitting about the lovely seaside flower gardens along Eastbourne Promenade, at the western end of the beach. A late autumn delight!

Late Dorset butterflies

04 Sunday Oct 2026

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Only eight species of butterfly were seen in Weymouth and on the Isle of Portland last week, as it’s now late in the year for most butterfly species, and the season for many is already over.

A lovely surprise was this rather faded Wall fluttering along a path at RSPB Lodmoor, likely the same specimen seen two days running. I did spend a morning walking around the disused quarries on Portland, and was told by a chap surveying a transect at Tout Quarry that he’d seen a couple of Wall that morning but I didn’t spot any as I subsequently wandered around the quarry.

Two Small heath in the neighbouring King Barrow Quarry were an unexpected surprise. The Dorset Butterflies website says there are ‘Two broods, the first starting in May and peaking in June, going through into July, and the second emerging in August and going through to September in smaller numbers’, so I was lucky to see these so late in September.

Not surprisingly given what an amazing influx we have seen this year, there were Clouded yellows everywhere, and I couldn’t resist taking even more photographs of these golden beauties. I’m going to have to be ruthless when I go through this year’s photos deleting those I don’t want to keep.

Otherwise, I found the odd Painted lady, quite a lot of Red admirals getting ready to depart on their return migration south to Europe’s warmer wintering grounds, a few late Common blues, some Small whites, and a number of Speckled woods. And I enjoyed seeing each and every one of them, knowing they will soon all be gone for the year.

A Brown argus pair

01 Tuesday Sep 2026

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The Brown argus butterflies seem to be having a very good second brood locally, at least in those places where the habitat has survived the heatwaves and drought. Lavernock Nature Reserve is one such place, very wet and muddy underfoot in the winter months and still remarkably lush despite this summer’s weather.

I can’t remember ever having seen a mating pair so, when I saw these two, I waited and hoped they might get together. The male didn’t move from where he had been perched when the female flew in and landed further up the plant stem. She fluttered her wings a lot and came flouncing down the stem towards the male. He still didn’t move. The next thing, the female was pointing her abdomen stiffly upwards, the standard indication that a female butterfly doesn’t want to mate. Why she bothered to approach him at all, I have no idea, but it was still lovely to see the two so close together.

On Devil’s-bit scabious

30 Sunday Aug 2026

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I mentioned in yesterday’s blog about my first Whinchat of the year that one of the fields at Lavernock Nature Reserve is currently full of blooming Devil’s-bit scabious that is feeding many hungry insects. These are some of them …

A surprise Box-tree moth

Couldn’t resist including a Clouded yellow

The second brood of Common blue is doing well

Meadow brown

Lots of Painted ladies

Lots of bees that wouldn’t keep still so I was pleased to get this Red-tailed bumblebee

Six-spot burnet moth

Small white

One of the larger hoverflies, Volucella zonaria

On Common fleabane: Lepidoptera

19 Wednesday Aug 2026

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As I wrote in Sunday’s blog about Drought-tolerant Common fleabane, the number of insects I’ve been seeing feeding on these plants gives me hope for their survival of this summer’s heat and drought. These are some of the Lepidoptera species I’ve seen, starting with the butterflies.

As well as these Common blue, Small white, Clouded yellow f. helice (my first of this pale colouration this year), and Brown argus, I’ve also spotted Meadow brown on the local fleabane flowers.

Next, the moths, both larvae and adults. The first is a caterpillar of one of the Pug moths (Eupithecia sp.), and the second, hiding in its self-made case, is Coleophora conyzae, a new species for me and a rare moth in Wales, with only 15 records to date.

The dark moth is Apodia bifractella, another that was new to me, though a moth that’s listed as common on the UK Moths website (n.b. it seems to have had a very recent name change to Apodia martinii). The final moth is the stunning Common purple & gold (Pyrausta purpuralis) – I’ve seen several of these enjoying the nutrients provided by Common fleabane flowers.

A summer of Clouded yellows

09 Sunday Aug 2026

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Since I spotted my first Clouded yellow butterfly in mid June I’ve seen many more – more, in fact, than I’ve ever seen before.

During a wander around Cosmeston Lakes Country Park on 19 July I saw 8, and I didn’t walk every possible path so I’m sure there were more than that total.

Five days later, on 24 July, at the same location, I counted 11.

And, during almost every one of my daily walks since then, both at Cosmeston and at other locations, I’ve seen at least 1 Clouded yellow.

Their golden presence in our local fields might well be the only positive thing about this summer of record-breaking temperatures, continuing heatwaves (our fifth of the year is forecast for this coming week), and now, officially, drought conditions.

Painted lady caterpillars

03 Monday Aug 2026

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Some of the 20-plus Painted lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui) in yesterday’s enchanting wildflower meadow were faded so probably migrants, but many had colours that were rich and vibrant, leading me to think they were most likely locally bred and recently emerged. This new generation contains the butterflies that will migrate from Britain in the autumn, returning to the locations where their parents originated.

Perhaps due to the large numbers of Painted ladies that arrived here this year, I have, for the first time, seen many Painted lady caterpillars. My butterfly bible, Peter Eeles’s Lifecycles of British & Irish Butterflies, tells me the female lays up to 500 eggs, each singly, most often on thistles but also on burdocks, Common nettle, and mallows amongst others.

After it hatches, the larva spins itself a little web in which to live, eating away the surrounding leaf, until its food is exhausted. It them moves to a new leaf and spins another web (as the caterpillar in the photo above is doing), and so it continues for approximately four weeks when it reaches its fifth instar and is ready to pupate.

These miniature leaf-and-silk structures are quite obvious on plants like thistles; you can usually see the caterpillar inside and there is an accumulation of frass in the bottom of the structure. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to find a pupa – that is also found inside a specially spun silk tent of leaves … maybe next year.

A meadow full of Painted ladies

02 Sunday Aug 2026

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I had a different blog planned for today (though it was also about this butterfly, and will follow tomorrow) but, after spending a magical hour in this wildflower meadow today, spellbound at the sight of at least twenty, probably more Painted ladies, I just had to share my enchantment with you.

NFY: Grayling

30 Thursday Jul 2026

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This is the last post from my recent mini-break in Weymouth, another first butterfly sighting for 2026 from my first meander around the former quarries on the Isle of Portland. These are, of course, Graylings (Hipparchia semele).

By happy coincidence, the Graylings had just started emerging when I visited. During my first walk around Tout and King Barrow quarries, on 9 July, I only saw two of these cryptically coloured butterflies. Just two days later, another quarry exploration produced more than 20 Graylings, with several flitting around me at once in one particular location, much to my delight.

I usually take the train up one of the local Welsh valleys to Aberbargoed coal spoil tip in July to see the only local population of these butterflies that is accessible to me as a non-driver. This year, with much of Britain sweltering under our third heatwave of the year, I haven’t made that trek, so I was even more grateful to have seen such numbers of Grayling in Dorset.

NFY: Lulworth Skipper

27 Monday Jul 2026

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It was during my visit to Weymouth and the Isle of Portland in June last year that I saw my first Lulworth skippers (Thymelicus acteon) – in fact, they were one of the main reasons I made that particular trip (I wrote about that visit in last year’s blog, Lifer: Lulworth skipper).

The Lulworths had only just emerged when I visited in 2025 so I only saw males. This year my visit was a month later, and both males and females were flying in good numbers. As you can see in my photo of a female above, these little beauties can be identified by the circle of lighter, golden marks on their wings.

There’s something a little cheeky about these Lulworth skippers. They may be tiny, with a wingspan of just 28mm, but they’re feisty, particularly the males. I noticed them flying quite aggressively at any other, larger butterflies that moved through their territories, and bravely stayed perched on their chosen twig or wildflower when a monster like me approached them. The latter was particularly helpful when I was trying to get photos, of which I now have rather a lot.